The Boss of Selfridges’ Group’s co-owner has admitted the consortium that acquired it for £4 billion in 2021 may well have overpaid. But he also thinks the luxury department store group was a good investment.

Tos Chirathivat, executive chair and CEO of family-controlled retail giant Central Group linked with Signa Group to buy the business in a 50:50 deal. But it’s now the majority owner following Signa’s spectacular implosion.

Chirathivat told the Financial Times that looking back, the price was “high” as interest rates have risen globally. But in the first interview given by the Thai tycoon since the purchase, he added: “Maybe 10 years from now it won’t be too high, but if you ask today, then of course it’s too high.”

His Central Group also owns Italy’s Rinascente, Germany’s KaDeWe and — as part of the Selfridges deal — De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.

It now has a 60% stake in Selfridges’ operating and property companies after increasing its holding in the wake of real estate mogul René Benko’s Signa business collapsing. Central struck a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to buy him out and has a 40% stake in the business.

Central and Signa had a long-standing relationship after the Thai firm had bought control of KaDe We from the Austrian business in 2015. 

Chirathivat told the FT there had been “no issue” between Central and Signa, although there had been some concern about Signa’s debt levels. And he didn’t know Benko had done a deal with the Saudi PIF to sell it a 10% stake in Selfridges before Central concluded its own deal.

He added that now the dust has settled on the ownership issues, Selfridges Group is “on track” and “things are going very well”. 

Selfridges Group made a much wider £340 million pre-tax loss in the 53 weeks to February 3, but revenue almost doubled with the loss having been added to by a surge in its finance bill and administrative costs.

The company now has ex-KaDeWe chief André Maeder running Selfridges and overseeing an unspecified major investment in its Oxford Street, London flagship.

Chirathivat told The FT that the company wants to ‘rebuild’ the flagship internally and that it currently has “three good floors’ out of its six storeys. He added that the company is “working to improve every area, whether it’s new products, brands, services, food and beverage outlets” with “the grand plan for Selfridges” being to become “the best store in the world”. He believes it’s one of the top five at present and that it has huge potential.